Based on today’s column column, where Cecil mentions the Brits using “Zed” (versus the American “Zee” pronounciation)…
…how did those two different pronounciations evolve? We use the same alphabet, and lots of spellings have changed (color/colour, etc), but Z seems to be the only letter that we call by different names on either side of the Atlantic.
Anyone know how this split occured?
Wiki’s take. Apparently “zee” is an offshoot of “zed.”
/zed/ came ultimately from the Greek letter zeta. I suspect that /zee/ came be analkogy with all the other letters rhyming with it: /bee/, /see/, /dee/, /jee/, /pee/, /tee/ and /vee/.
Cool, thanks.
PS – looks like Wikipedia is trying to take over the Straight Dope!! 
So why don’t the Brits pronounce “B” as bed? It’s from beta, after all.
Weird that, even in British/Canajun “zed” is the only letter to have that “-ed” pronunciation.
When MilliCal first learned of it, she was fascinated, and insisted on pronouncing “Z” in the British/canadian fashion all the time.
(Do they use that pronunciation elsewhere where they speak English? Ireland? South Africa? Australia? New Zealand? Cape Verde Islands? Grand Fenwick?)
Perhaps because English got the Z directly from Greek, rather than via Latin. That’s just a guess, though.
/zed/ is the more common pronunciation in Australia, but /zee/ is creeping in, due to US influences, e.g., Sesame Street and the alphabet song.
There are several letters that don’t rhyme with any other letter. F, for instance, or L. What’s weird about it?
Fortunately, Stargate Atlantis is doing its best to counter that influence via the highly charismatic character of Doctor Rodney McKay 
It’s pronounced Zed on this side of the Atlantic too. It’s just you guys south of the border that talk funny. 
At the end of the alphabet lived a letter named Zed
A poor silibant, barely kept his family fed
All day on the porch he would sip a cup of tea
And then he decided, “I’ll change my name to Zee!”
– with apologies to Earl Scruggs 
Lord Zed could kick the crap out of Dr Zee.
What’s that aboot, eh!
Surely the title should be Z vs. Zee?
I like the zed myself for the same reasons I’m always careful to say the digit 0 as “zero” and write the horizontal line through my 7’s and z’s and D’s. Especially on the phone, you can ensure that when you’re spelling something they won’t confuse with the C.
Also the new Zephyr’s name sounds a lot cooler if you say “Mark Zed” rather than “Mark Z,” although I think marketing’s finally accepted that the “MKZ” should be pronounce “M, K, Z” in which case “zed” sounds silly but does distinguish any confusion if one were to hear “M, K, C.”
Why would you write the title like that knowing many people on the board would read it “‘Zed’” vs. Zed?
Zed is dead babe… Zed is dead!
Sure, but you could make a similar argument that “MKD” and “MKT” could cause confusion unless you pronounce “T” as “Ted”.
Yeah, but I’ve noticed Teyla following the Americans’ lead & saying Zee. (Interestingly, Rachel Luttrell’s middle initial appears to be Z.)
How do Brits sing the alphabet song?
“…T, U, V, W, X, Y and Zed” just doesn’t sound right to me.
Which just goes to show you the natural superiority of American culture! Even aliens in other galaxies (who are already fluent in English, no less) use our pronunciation of the letter!
Actually, I was never sure if McKay said “Zed” because it never occurred to him to try it any other way, or if it was just one of his ways of needling everyone else about how much smarter than they he considered himself. He comes off as self-centered enough that he just might not notice that he’s the only one saying it like that and doesn’t give it any thought.